Alone
by Joelle8
Summary: In his Seventh Year at Hogwarts, when Death Eaters are taken over the school and it's all his fault, Draco Malfoy meets a girl who teaches him that he's not as alone as he thinks.


Alone

Draco Malfoy strutted into the Slytherin Common Room as if he was the king of the world- even though he knew, in his Seventh Year at Hogwarts, with Death Eaters running amok in the school and making everyone's lives miserable, all because of him, he was anything but. In fact, that year, even some of his Slytherin pals had begun giving him the cold shoulder- Pansy Parkinson had gone so far as dumping him for Theodore Nott! That was the one thing Draco had never seen coming; Pansy had always fawned on him, and he had always assumed _he _would be the one to dump _her_.

Alas, that was not the case. As Draco walked into the common room, his fellow Slytherins turned around and saw who had entered. Upon seeing it was him, they all glared at him- except for a few frightened First Years, whose eyes merely widened in fear- and dashed up to their dormitories. Just as Draco was about to sigh at the sadness of it all, he noticed that one person remained in the common room, sitting on the couch, watching the fire.

Curious, Draco slowly sat down in the plush chair next to the couch that gave him a perfect view of the person's face. There was something familiar about the girl's face, but he couldn't quite place it. He could, however, tell that she was beautiful; exceptionally so. Her skin was almost paler than his own, without a single blemish or freckle. Her raven black hair was shiny and pin-straight, in a side ponytail falling elegantly over her shoulder and hanging down to her waist. Perhaps the most stunning thing about her, though, was her eyes: they were a stunning electric blue that seemed to have endless depths.

"You can stop staring at me, Malfoy," the girl spoke all of the sudden from full, pink lips.

"How do you know my name?" Draco asked.

The girl's gaze turned to him, her eyes reflecting mild amusement, her smirk worthy of a Malfoy. "We've known each other for years, Malfoy. Do you not remember me? My sister is in your Year, after all."

Draco thought for a moment about the girls in his Year, and then it clicked. "Astoria Greengrass."

"Forgot me, did you?" Astoria asked, her blue eyes burning into Draco's grey ones. "I can't say I'm all that surprised. I am, after all, two years younger than you. I did not expect for you to remember me from those pureblood holiday parties all those years ago."

Draco would've liked to say he hadn't forgotten her, but that would be a lie. Now that she mentioned it, however, he _did _remember the pureblood holiday parties, which he had stopped attending when he had entered Hogwarts. Every self-respecting pureblood family went to the party; so, of course, the Greengrasses would have been there. For the life of him, though, he could not remember Astoria being at the party. She seemed to realize this.

"I was never very outgoing or social," she spoke. "That's Daphne's department. Admittedly, I tended to watch from the sidelines. I was a wallflower of sorts- nobody ever noticed me, but I noticed everyone. You, Draco Malfoy, were no exception."

"I apologize," Draco started, "for my lack of observance."

"No need to apologize," Astoria shrugged. "You did nothing wrong- that is, nothing wrong involving _that_. You have made many mistakes in your life, Malfoy. I'm sure you know what the biggest one is."

Draco stiffened. He knew exactly what Astoria was hinting at. "I had no choice," he defended himself. "The Dark Lord would've killed me _and_ my family."

Astoria whipped her head away from him, instead choosing to resume staring at the fire as she responded, "I understand why you felt compelled to do what you did. However, I hope you realize the consequences you have caused for everyone else."

"What do you mean?" Draco frowned.

Astoria silently held her palm out to Draco, and had he not been trained never to show his emotions, he would've gasped in horror. Engraved in the young Greengrass girl's hand were the words, "I will use Crucio," over and over again in red that Draco knew was blood.

"Amycus Carrow told me to use the Cruciatus Curse on Ginny Weasley," Astoria began, her eyes adopting a far-off look. "I refused to."

"Why?" Draco blurted before he could stop himself. Instantly, he regretted it as Astoria's searing gaze turned to him, radiating anger.

"Ginny Weasley never did anything to me," Astoria replied simply. "In fact, she even helped me with my Potions homework once. She did nothing that urged me to put her through the kind of torture Amycus was encouraging." She laughed a humorless laugh and continued, "You probably think I'm some sort of blood traitor now. I'm not. I just don't believe in hurting the innocent."

For once in his life, Draco Malfoy found himself speechless. How a Fifth Year girl could possibly think something so… so… _wise _was beyond him. "How did your parents react?" he found himself inquiring. He knew that Cepheus and Cassiopeia Greengrass were nearly as supportive of the Dark Lord as his own parents were- the only difference being that Mr. and Mrs. Greengrass had been intelligent enough to support him in secret, not taking the Dark Mark.

"Father was furious," Astoria told him. "He's always hated the Weasleys. Mother was a bit more understanding… but only a bit. Let's just say there's a reason I'm still here, even though it's Christmas break."

"…I'm sorry to hear that," Draco said slowly, not being able to think up any other halfway decent response.

"Don't be," Astoria shook her head. "My parents always liked Daphne better anyways… she used Crucio on Weasley, you know."

"I know," Draco nodded. "She told me. She seemed almost… _proud _of it."

"She's always been power-hungry," Astoria sighed. "Her whole life, she's strived to be better than everyone else. Torturing Weasley gave her power; I'd expect her to like it."

Draco was silent, thinking about the differences between Daphne Greengrass and her younger sister. Besides the two girls both being in Slytherin, he couldn't think of a single thing they had in common. Daphne had tan skin- though it was obviously from too much tanning lotion- as well as curly blonde hair, thin lips, and brown eyes. She was as vain and superficial as Pansy (which was saying something!), and took delight in thing that even _he _considered horrible. Whereas Astoria was just… _not_. Not any of those things.

"You know, you're really not as bad as everyone here makes you out to be," Astoria mused suddenly. "You're not too bad of a bloke."

"Glad to hear that," Draco said, smirking his infamous smirk. He was surprised to realize that he was, indeed, glad to hear that Astoria didn't think he was all that bad.

All of the sudden, Astoria smiled. Draco found that the smile was contagious, and a grin lit up his face for the first time in months. "You should smile more often," Astoria told him. "They suit you much better than your usual expression; smirking just makes you look as if you swallowed something sour."

Draco, surprising even himself, threw his head back and laughed loudly at this. "I'll keep that in mind," he chuckled, staring into Astoria's freakishly beautiful eyes.

"You'd do well to," Astoria said seriously. "Otherwise, how will you ever get a girlfriend?"

"I resent that!" Draco exclaimed. "Pansy fell for my smirk!"

"Yes, and _Pansy _is _Pansy_. In other words, a complete and utter idiot."

Draco raised an eyebrow- a skill he was very proud of- and questioned, "Are you implying that only stupid girls fancy me?"

"Maybe," Astoria responded teasingly, her eyes developing a mischievous glint. "Or maybe I'm saying that you need a girl smarter than Pansy, who wouldn't fall for your I'm-so-cool-look-at-my-smirk façade."

"Oh? And would that girl have soft black hair, striking blue eyes, and loads of wise sayings that never cease to amaze me?" Draco asked before he could stop himself, wondering what it was about this girl that made her so… _appealing _to him.

A faint blush entered Astoria's pale cheeks. "Flattery will get you many girls, Malfoy; I, however, am not one of them."

"I wouldn't have to any other way," Draco answered, grinning. "After all, I'll need _something _to do for the rest of the year; wooing you seems like the perfect thing to me."

Astoria chuckled and stood up. "Good luck with that, Malfoy," she smiled at him before darting up to her dormitory.

"Goodnight, Greengrass," Draco called back, and smiled to himself when he vaguely heard her respond, "Goodnight, Malfoy."

Maybe he wasn't as alone as he thought.

* * *

**_Disclaimer: I owned Harry Potter once. Then I woke up._**

**_This has been in my head for a while now, and I finally had a chance to write it. Yay! Besides, it's been a while since I've posted anything on ._**

**_Hope you liked it! Please review!_**

**_-Joelle8_**


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